This invention relates to an installing device and, more particularly, to a device for installing electrical outlet boxes.
One of the most significant costs in the construction of office buildings is the cost of the labor used in the construction. The cost is especially large with respect to the labor of members of the skilled trades, such as electricians. For example, at present, the hourly rate for an electrician is approximately twenty-three dollars per hour. Consequently, reducing the number of hours spent by electricians in the construction of large office buildings significantly reduces the cost of such buildings.
For example, in an office building having a floor size of twenty thousand square feet, approximately one thousand electrical connection boxes of essentially the same type need to be placed at approximately the same position with respect to the floor of the building, the wall studs, and the surface of the walls. In order to reduce the time required by an electrician to install such an electrical outlet box, various jigs have been devised to hold a box in place during the installation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,774,934 to J. Mangin; U.S. Pat. No. 1,983,670 to J. G. Knight; U.S. Pat. No. 2,314,408 to J. G. Knight; U.S. Pat. No. 2,316,389 to E. B. Atkinson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,002 to N. H. Rudolph; U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,773 to Copp et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,941 to J. E. Clarke all disclose various arrangements for holding an electrical outlet box while it is being installed. However, none of these prior patents discloses an arrangement which allows an electrician to position an outlet box rapidly with respect to all three dimensions; consequently, the cost of the labor attributable to electricians installing such boxes remains high.